Not necessarily. I’ve been a performance athlete and cycling coach for a long time now, and if I’ve learned anything it is that calorie counting is actually a very complicated business. And when I say business I mean a billion dollar, highly-profitable business. There are hundreds of websites, apps, and books out there wanting you to believe that it truly is simple. They promise that once you’re in control of the numbers, managing weight is easy. But really understanding the numbers is not easy at all.

To begin with, if you really want to track calories you have to account for every single morsel of food or drop of liquid you consume every day. I recently did this for three days using a popular smart phone app and thought I was going to lose my mind.

Adding a simple turkey sandwich required me to add two slices of bread, but since I bake my own the store bought calorie counts weren’t accurate. Was my wheat bread equivalent to Natures Own 100% whole wheat bread at 60 calories, or Whole Foods 100% whole wheat bread at 90 calories? Did I put one or two ounces of turkey on my sandwich? Was that slap of mayo on my knife equivalent to 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon? Seriously, did I need to measure my mayonnaise? Even if I had the time and inclination to do this for every meal I eat, I wouldn’t want to as it would take all the pleasure out of eating!

The other end of the equation is accurately tracking exactly how many calories are burned in any given day. Most of the weight loss tools out there use some generic formula to calculate your energy needs based on age, gender, and activity level, but these formulas are not accurate enough to determine specific activities. Did you walk to work today instead of drive? Did you run harder than usual during your 30-minute routine? Did you spend the whole day at your computer finishing a big project?

If you want to reach your optimal weight, don’t worry about counting calories. Simply begin with a food log, keeping track in general of what you consume over the course of two or three days. Write it down on a piece of paper and don’t worry too much about specific portions. What really matters isn’t the calorie content of the food but the general trend in your diet habits. Once you begin to see the big picture, it will be easy to see where you can make some small changes that will make a big difference.

Here are five big hints for controlling weight that work much better than counting calories!

• Eat Breakfast. Your body wakes up empty, and if you don’t eat it will think that you are starving and begin to conserve resources. Practically, this means your body will hold on to fat stores and slow down the metabolic processes that burn calories.
• Cut back on grains and bread products. Let’s face it. Carbs taste good. They fill you up and even kick in with a quick surge of insulin. Unfortunately, that sugar surge also lowers your body’s mechanism to use up fat. And when it’s gone, you’ll be hungry again!
• Don’t wait too long between meals. It’s a big temptation to avoid snacking altogether if you’re trying to lose weight, but a healthy snack can keep your body from feeling deprived and keep you from getting so hungry that you end up eating more than you need at mealtime.
• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Here’s a place your food diary will really pay off: We all think we eat enough fruits and vegetables, but when you see it on paper you’re likely to find out that you’re actually consuming less than you think. Make it a healthy rule: Never eat a meal or snack that does not include a fruit or vegetable.
• Don’t skimp on healthy fat. Healthy fats help you feel full, keep your joints healthy, act as natural anti-inflammatories, and help keep your skin supple and your hair shiny. Fish oil, avocados, nuts, and olive oils are all great sources of healthy fats.

Sarah Matchett is a USAC Certified Coach, and the driving force behind Cool Breeze Coaching in Mooresville. You can send your fitness and training questions to her at sarah@coolbreezecyclery.com. See her previous columns here.

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